WASHINGTON - Starting Oct. 1, NASA Television and the agency's Internet homepage will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, which began with the launch of Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957.

NASA TV news feeds and a special interactive web presentation on www.nasa.gov will feature interview excerpts with former astronauts, engineers, scientists, flight directors and other NASA employees who offer historical perspectives on the Sputnik launch. Also provided will be file footage of Explorer I, the first satellite launched by the United States on Jan. 31, 1958, 3-D spacecraft models, and the subsequent announcement by NASA's first administrator T. Keith Glennan on the establishment of the agency on Oct. 1, 1958.